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Abilities
The particular bits of knowledge learned over the years, the tricks of the trade and the hard-won secrets of crafts are all Abilities. A character’s Ability Traits represent special training or talent, and as such, they often allow performance of tasks that would be otherwise impossible. Even with more mundane situations, Abilities allow for a much improved chance of success. When a character performs a risky or uncertain action, Abilities aid the outcome. If you try a task and fail, you can temporarily expend one of your appropriate Abilities, to gain an immediate retest. You lose the Ability used and the initial Trait(s) bid for the task (if any) because you lost the initial test, but you can still overcome the challenge. Abilities used like this are recovered at the next game session. For a quick list on Abilities, click HERE. Ability Levels A character with multiple levels in a given Ability is certainly more experienced and proficient than an individual with just one. Most characters will fall into one to three levels of Ability; greater amounts are very me, and anything beyond five levels is almost certainly superhuman (and limited to elder vampires and their ilk). The total level of Ability in a given field corresponds roughly to the character’s professional capabilities: 1 Trait: ''Competent'' (Able to earn a living) 2 Traits: Professional ''(Licensed, capable of supervision) '''3 Traits:' Journeyman (Bachelor’s degree or instructor) 4 Traits: Expert (Master’s degree or researcher) 5 Traits: ''Master'' (Doctorate or true innovator) Some tasks are simply too difficult, or they require too much skill, to be attempted by a character without the requisite Abilities. The Storyteller may occasionally require the possession or use of an Ability Trait to perform a specific task. In this case, characters without the Ability, or who have already used all of their levels of the Ability, cannot attempt the task at all. When an Ability is used against a set scenario or object (such as using Security to pick a lock), the feat usually has a difficulty assigned by the Storyteller. In such a Static Challenge, you may be required to risk a Trait for a trivial task, or even be asked to bid two or more Traits for a difficult, risky or frustrating undertaking. Some Abilities can be used against an opponent instead of facilitating a regular task. In this case, the Ability is expended to gain a retest in a challenge with the opponent. Standard Abilities Academics: You possess a level of education and general knowledge beyond rudimentary schooling. With Academics, you can express artistic criticism, debate the classics, consider philosophy and indulge in studies of culture. This broad Ability covers all sorts of humanities in learning. Academics allows you to recognize historical, art and cultural references. You can use Academics when working in such fields, when developing a critique or researching. Calling on the Academics Ability may require a Mental or Social Challenge to determine your exact level of competence. You may further direct your studies by choosing a specific field, such as Art Criticism, Classical Studies, History, Journalism, or anything else that could be studied with higher education. Acting: As a special form of Performance, you're particularly good at pretending to be something that you aren't, or having some emotion that you don't really feel. This is essential for a spy as well as for a stage performer. You can use a Social Challenge to put on a convincing display. Performance entertains; Acting allows you to convincingly portray a role and emotion (contrast a stand-up comic with a Shakespearean actor). You can also use Acting to block an Empathy challenge against you. Alertness: You’re never caught unaware. You pay attention to your surroundings, and even if you aren’t particularly perceptive, you’ve learned to pick up on subtle cues. The information of your senses is immediately processed for danger signs and unusual signals. When you are Surprised, you may expend a Trait of Alertness to negate the Surprise. You may then respond normally, and can even activate defenses normally that turn. Animal Ken: With Animal Ken, you have learned to understand animals, and you can sometimes deal with them more equitably. With Animal Ken, you can train an animal into particular behaviors (stay, fetch, attack), or attempt to deduce an animal’s state of being (injured, angry, frightened, etc.) with a Mental Challenge. If you work with an animal over a long period of time (generally a month or so), you may be able to teach it a simple trick, up to a limit of one trick for each Mental Trait that the animal has. Archery: Archery is the ability to use bows, the most common ranged weapon of the era. Experienced archers also know how to maintain and repair these weapons, and in some cases how to make them as well. Archery covers crossbows and other related weapons. It does not cover spears or other thrown weapons. Once you possess the Archery Ability, you may opt to bid Mental Traits instead of Physical Traits in the event of ties. Athletics: Whether due to a background in sports or just personal talent, you are skilled in all manner of athletic endeavors. You can throw a ball, sprint, climb, jump and swim. This last can be especially useful to vampires, who do not naturally float. Your Athletics Ability is used for retests on most forms of raw physical activity: acrobatics, swimming, jumping, climbing and running. You may choose to focus on something you do especially well. Awareness: You have a talent for knowing when things are not as they should be, whether by that strange feeling in the pit of your gut or through tested observation. This is particularly useful for sensing when other supernatural creatures about, detecting evidence of Numina or other strange phenomena, or just getting that weird feeling when the laws of nature are about to take a hard left. Awareness requires a Mental Challenge to use, and retests are made with the Awareness Ability. Biotech: While Medicine handles all sorts of techniques from mundane treatment to surgery, Biotech handles the organic machinery and hyper-advanced genetic projects of the Technocracy. Extraordinary citizens sometimes master a little bit of this Ability, and most Progenitors develop some skill in Biotech along the course of their career. Biotech covers the use of cloned organs, genetically engineered materials and all the machines that make, store and use them. Essentially, it's like highly advanced version of Medicine, as far above Medicine as Medicine would be beyond simple first aid. Progenitors use Biotech in conjunction with many specialty foci. Biotech is also necessary to understand and operate Technocratic biological machinery and living Devices. This ability requires an accounting of how it was learned in the character's background or during play before purchase. Blindfighting: Blindfighting means you are practiced at fighting without the aid of your eyes. You’ve learned to use your instincts, hearing and innate hunter nature instead of sight. You may use this Ability to retest in any Brawl challenge that occurs in the dark or while blindfolded. Brawl: Back-alleys, martial arts schools and rough bars are your stomping ground. You might have military training, or maybe you just grew up with a passel of rough-and-tumble siblings. Whatever the case, you know how to dish out damage with your fists and feet. Use the Brawl Ability for retests in combat when you are using your natural weapons (teeth, claws or fists). This Ability is also the province of the martial arts, although you should specify which art when taking this Ability. Bureaucracy: Bureaucracy, a.k.a. the System, is theoretically an organization for getting things done more efficiently. Bureaucracy can allow you to access to appropriate licenses, use contractual agreements to your advantage, and recover, alter or destroy records. Bureaucracy often requires a Static Mental or Social Challenge, depending on the type of roleplaying performed, or as a Storyteller sees fit. In an age where even a minor corporation generates a sea of paperwork every day, the ability to track particular items in the mess - or manipulate the mess itself - is a subtle but extremely potent talent. Many places protect their computer records with paranoid degrees of security, but very few are able to keep their paperwork closely under wraps to those who know what they’ve doing. Difficulty depends on such factors as security, accessibility, nature and cooperativeness of the target or information. Computer: With the Computer Ability, you understand how to use, program and access computers of all sorts. Use Computer with a Mental Challenge (difficulty determined by the Storyteller) to break into systems, alter data, write programs or figure out unfamiliar operations. Crafts: You can build things. Depending on your area of expertise, you know how to manufacture items and make handy tools or decorations. You must choose a focus for Crafts, specifying your form of creation: Carpentry, Clockworks, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking and the like are all possibilities. You can fashion works of art, studying Painting, Drawing or similar physical media. Crafts also covers more technical skills done with labor, such as Mechanics. Making or repairing an item with Crafts usually involves a Physical Challenge of your dexterity, with difficulty set by the Storyteller based on the type of job (making a concealed spring-loaded trap is far more difficult than planing a board, for instance). The Tzimisce practice a focus of Body Crafts when using Vicissitude. This Ability covers tattooing, piercing, flaying and all other applications thereof regarding the alteration of the body. Cryptography: Public encryption keys are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Ciphers and substitution codes are laughable child’s play. Through intuition, pattern recognition and large number theory, you can crack just about any code known to man - and maybe a few that aren’t! Use Cryptography to try to decipher coded messages that your Storyteller introduces. Even if you can’t decipher it, you can usually tell a coded message from random static and maybe tell what sort of code was used (say, if you're picking up signals over a radio or computer). If your Storyteller decides to give you cryptographical puzzles, you can expend a Cryptography Ability to gain one of two benefits (depending on whether your Storyteller wants to stretch out the time to solve the puzzle): You can either gain more time to solve it, equal to the time you normally would have (so three Cryptography Traits turn a one-minute puzzle into a four-minute one), or you can choose a letter and have all instances of that letter revealed a la Wheel of Fortune. You may need other Abilities for certain codes. For example, you might recognize a fractal pattern as a code because of your Cryptography, but without Science: Fractals you probably couldn't decipher it. Similarly, you would recognize Navajo code-talking but couldn't understand it without appropriate Linguistics. Dodge: When trouble rears its ugly head, you know how to get out of its way. Unhesitating reactions let you evade blows and shots, getting out of the way of injury. You can use Dodge against any attack that you’re aware of: diving for cover as someone fires a gun or twisting away from a sword, for instance. Dodge may be used as a retest when defending against an attack that you can see or sense coming. Drive: Though most people can drive in the modern age, you can drive well. You’re equally at home with a stick shift or an automatic, rush hour is no concern and you can get the most performance out of a car. In dangerous situations, you can evade traffic and even use your vehicle as a weapon. Bear in mind that just because you can drive a station wagon doesn’t mean you can drive a semi with equal ease. A Mental Challenge may be required to allow you to figure out where everything is in an unfamiliar vehicle. Drive tests most often involve a Physical Challenge of your reflexes. Electronics: You have practical knowledge concerning the function and repair of electrical and electronic devices. This expertise may have come from formal schooling or it may represent an intuitive knack for dealing with such technology. You may use this Ability to determine what a particular device is used for, as well as how to operate it. This skill also enables you to repair a broken or damaged piece of equipment or even jury-rig something on the fly. Most applications of this Ability require a Static Physical or Mental Test based upon the tools and materials at hand, as well as the amount of time you can spend working on the apparatus. Empathy: You are sensitive to the moods and emotions of people around you. When you listen to someone, you understand her feelings. You can identify with others and tell when people are lying or holding back while talking to you. With a Social Challenge and the expenditure of an Empathy Ability, you can determine if the last thing that someone said was a lie (although Subterfuge can defend against this expenditure). Alternately, you can attempt to determine the subject‘s current Demeanor. Enigmas: You are good at solving mysteries and puzzles - you can solve word searches in a few minutes or play with Zen koans for fun. This Ability measures how well you can solve problems, delve into metaphysical questions or collect scattered details into a coherent whole. Enigmas is used with Mental Challenges to see if you can figure out a problem set before, like solving a maze or answering a riddle. The Storyteller may require a number of Traits to be risked, depending on the difficulty of the puzzle. Etiquette: You can hold a toast with the best of them, and you keep your cool in any social scenario, from high tea to a gang’s rally. The Etiquette Ability can be used with Social Tests to impress or blend in at parties. If you make a social faux pas, you may expend an Etiquette Ability immediately to negate the gaffe - your character knew better than to make the mistake. Expression: Words and feelings flow freely from you. When the muse strikes, you put pen to paper (or fingers to instrument) and pour out a torrent of emotion and stirring imagery. You can convey message and meaning in your art, from symphonies to poetry, and whatever you write is both clear and moving. When writing or composing, you can sink true Expression into the work. You must choose a focus for Expression, specifying your form of creation. Fast-Draw: Above and beyond normal uses for weapons, you’ve developed the ability to draw and ready yours with an impressive display of speed. This skill is obviously critical in classic gun fighting showdowns, and can also prove quite handy in other situations where a slower character might be caught unprepared; you may spend a level of this Ability to cancel an opponent attempting to surprise you with a combat challenge, as long as you have your trusty weapon in reach and ready for battle. (In reach and ready for battle is defined as follows: weapons cannot be across the room, guns must be loaded, and knives cannot be hidden in an inside thigh sheath that you have to dig for, etc.) As always, use common sense when determining if this skill can be applied; while a character may cancel the surprise of a person trying to pull a weapon on her across a poker table, it is unlikely that this Ability will help if the character is asleep, caught from behind, or the target of a sniper’s bullet. Storytellers have every right to suspend this advantage for characters who attempt to use this skill to cancel every Surprise sprung on them. Although it is especially appropriate for Firearms, you may choose to use take this skill in relation to any weapon the Storyteller allows, from throwing knives to rifles to cavalry sabers. You must possess at least two levels of the Firearms or Melee Ability, whichever is appropriate to your weapon of choice, before you may purchase this Ability. You must also name a specific melee weapon or type of firearm when this skill is taken, and this Ability never applies when using any type of weapon but the one chosen. Of course, if you wish, you may take this Ability more than once to represent your ability to Fast-Draw with a variety of weapons. Finance: 'The world of money and business awaits your whim. You understand interest, CDs, stock market transactions, currency exchanges and GNPs. A little Finance lets you make quite a bit of money. You can also use your Finance to balance books or run a business of your own. Typically, you can run a business, follow a money trail, perform an audit or clean up an accounting mess with a Mental Challenge (difficulty dependent on the task, as determined by the Storyteller). Alternately, you can expend a level of Finance Ability to raise $250 in cash between games. Not every use of Finance is so benign - money laundering operations have to come from somewhere. 'Firearms: A little time at the gun range goes a long way. You know how to hold, fire and clean a gun. You can unjam one, too, and you can tell different models apart. You know how to stand to get the best aim, how to handle recoil and how to take care of problems in the field. If you possess the Firearms Ability, you may use your Mental Traits for gun combat instead of using Physical Traits, at no cost. You can expend Firearms for a retest in ranged-fire combat. Fortune-telling: Tea leaves, Tarot cards, runes, I Ching sticks, a swinging pendulum or entrails - these are the tools you call upon to read the future. Whether or not you have the actual psychic chutzpah to do this is up to the Storyteller, but at the very least, you can put on a good show and part the gullible from their money. Using Fortune-telling requires you to specify at least one divination method and may require Social Challenges to pull off a good performance. Gambling: From poker to craps to blackjack, you’ve seen just about any wager imaginable, and you’ve developed a talent for games of skill and chance. Over time, you’ve learned enough to generally come out ahead (or at least break even) by hedging your bets and knowing when to bet it all or leave the table. Of course, you’ve also learned enough to know how to get fate to help you out a bit if you choose, but being caught cheating is one of the easiest ways a body can wind up in a shallow grave. Gambling, or its illicit alteration, is generally a Mental Challenge, although the Storyteller may rule that certain games are Social or even Physical Challenges. If you choose to actually play cards or roll dice during play, characters with this Ability may - at a Narrator’s discretion - expend a level of this Ability to reroll or take a new draw, to better simulate their expertise at handling the game. All levels expended are still lost until next session as usual. Use common sense when determining what falls under the province of this ability: for example, playing most card and dice games does, as does figuring out a good amount to bet on a horse race, but determining the outcome of such wagers as foot races or shooting an apple off someone’s head does not. Hearth Wisdom: This Ability compiles old wives tales, as opposed to the established fact. It’s unsystematic, but in its haphazard way, it covers the body of knowledge accumulated by peasants, traders and other people who do not benefit from servants or live in isolation. It includes mundane matters such as which plants and animals are safe to eat in the area, which herbs are good for cooking and relieving minor aches and pains, signs of impending bad (or good) weather, rules of thumb for resolving domestic disputes, as well as the folk wisdom regarding the dangers of the night. History: You’ve a body of knowledge regarding places and events outside of your specific experience. Whether seeking information about the Edo period of Japan or the habits of the ancient Greeks, you can dig up or remember all manner of recorded history. Using History, you can trace the course of civilizations and important events, and perhaps speculate as to their importance in the occult world. Characters with several levels of History may well get glimpses into the hidden influences of the supernatural on the course of the past. History is often used in conjunction with a Mental Challenge, with a difficulty determined by the Storyteller based on the obscurity, complexity and thoroughness of the information a character desires. Hobby/Professional/Expert: In a certain area of expertise not covered by another Ability, you have achieved some level of skill. You may have a small grasp of a trade due to some work on the side, or perhaps you’ve specifically studied a topic. Hobby/Professional/Expert Ability is a catch-all category for highly unusual Abilities. Any Ability of this type must be specifically approved by the Storyteller, and it has its capabilities defined by the Storyteller. Hunting: This skill allows you to stalk any prey, in any terrain, for any purpose. Deer hunters and Gangrel use this to bring down wild game. Most other Kindred, however, hunt a different sort of prey in the urban jungle. This skill allows them to gain their nightly sustenance without breaking the Masquerade or going hungry due to missed opportunities. This Ability gives you a retest in situations when you are attempting to refresh your Blood Pool, whether in the woods or out on the streets. For non-Kindred, this Ability allows a retest in normal hunting situations. Interrogation: Sometimes you need information. Sometimes the informant doesn’t want to talk. If you don’t want to work over the target physically, this requires a level of psychological finesse. You may not be a psychologist, but you sure know how to read people. You can get them to talk, and more importantly, you understand how to draw conclusions from what they’re not saying. Given enough time, you can crack some of the hardiest minds, but that’s not even necessary - you’re good enough that you can get them to betray themselves without breaking them. Use Interrogation in a Social Challenge to gather information from a subject. You can ask one yes/ no question up to 10 words in length. Expend an Interrogation Ability and make the challenge; if you win, the subject must answer truthfully with “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know.” A question based on an assumption that’s partially false counts as false (and generates a “NO” answer). The subject can defend with Acting. Using Interrogation in this fashion requires a full scene or hour uninterrupted with the subject and can’t be done under duress (that is, you can’t Interrogate someone if you’re both hanging from manacles in a prison or while you’re being shot at; you must be in a situation of clear superiority). Intimidation: Intimidation represents any of a broad variety of techniques for terrifying people into compliance. This could be anything from physical size, to a particularly frightening grin, to knowing which emotional buttons to push. You can use Intimidation when trying to scare someone with a Social Challenge, or with certain Disciplines. Investigation: You know how to pick up clues and put together disparate pieces of information. By habit and training, you can set a jumbled mass of data into order, discovering identities, motives and patterns in an otherwise chaotic scene. You can use Investigation with a Mental Challenge when trying to puzzle out meaning to a random scene, or with most Auspex Discipline powers. Jury-Rig: You may not know how things are put together or why they work, you've got the knack of putting the right wires together and giving little duct tape to make things almost as good as new. Subject to having a few handy tools like a spool of metal wire and some chewing gum, you can often get one or two more uses out of the most crazily high-tech item. When an item's destroyed (reduced to zero Traits or health levels), you can Jury-Rig it to bring it back to minimal functionality. Expend a Jury-Rig Ability and make a Mental Challenge with a difficulty of three times the object's normal Trait value - so an object that normally provides one bonus Trait has a difficulty of three. If you succeed, the item goes back up to one Trait. You can't Jury-Rig something above one Trait, and the item breaks again immediately after you use it. You can repeatedly Jury-Rig the same item, but the difficulty increases by one Trait each time. You can Jury-Rig just about anything that the Storyteller allows, subject to time and materials - some duct tape might Jury-Rig a knife back into functionality for one hit, but you probably couldn't Jury-Rig a Void Engineer space cruiser that rammed an asteroid. Law: Nobody is above the law, except those who know how to use it to their own advantage. You’re one of the latter. Perhaps you uphold the law, or maybe you twist it to your own ends. Your knowledge of Law allows you to understand legal processes, courts and lawyers, and to use them effectively. Use the Law Ability in court situations or with Social Challenges involving legal matters. Because the legal body is so vast, your Storyteller may require you to select a particular area of study (Criminal, Civil, Tax, Camarilla, etc.). Law Enforcement: Many supernaturals often have to work with police or local law agencies. Others often find themselves on the run from those same groups. In either case, a working knowledge of the group is more than helpful, it's practical survival. Police don't like outsiders taking their cases, after all, so knowing how to appease them helps smooth along the transition. By the same token, if you know what the police are going to do, you have a better chance of getting away. You know the patterns of local law enforcement, their techniques, who'd be put on an investigation (a coroner, a detective or some other specialist), and what sorts of paperwork they fill out. You don't necessarily know specific people; that's the purview of Influence: Police. You do, however, have a good idea of what the reaction will be if you perform a specific criminal act, or need to work with the police, sheriff or other duly appointed badge-wearing representative. Leadership: When you speak, people listen. A good speaking voice and self-confidence lend a powerful presence to a leader. The Leadership Ability represents your ability to motivate people and to get them to follow your guidance. Even among those who do not know or respect you, you can demand attention. You can use Leadership with a Social Challenge to try to get a minor favor or task from a character. Linguistics: There is only one Linguistics Ability, which allows a character to know languages other than his native language. A character with one trait allows one additional language, two traits allows two additional languages, three traits allows four additional languages, four traits allows eight additional languages, and five traits allows sixteen additional languages. Ancient vampires with six traits can know twenty-four additional languages, while those with seven traits can know thirty-two additional languages. Alternately, you can focus on the underlying study of Linguistics itself, granting some understanding of the principles behind the structure of language. Languages need not be spoken; American Sign Language or Egyptian hieroglyphics would also be considered fields for study. Those who wish to converse in another language (but cannot actually do so) should hold up one hand with the first finger and thumb making an L-shape to indicate to other players the characters are not speaking English. Those who wish to listen in must also possess the language. Lores: Lores are very powerful and have several special rules in VampCat. They are covered in a separate section located here. Media: Talking to a lone individual is one thing. Reaching an entire audience is another. Preparing something to offend the least people and attract the most attention takes a lot of careful thought. Of course, sometimes you want to offend people in order to grab their attention. You know all of this, and how to do it, and when, and why. When it absolutely, positively has to have a sound bite, you’re the one to do it. You know how to best place and use media coverage. In conjunction with Influence: Media, this Ability allows you to make strong campaigns with the connections you have. Normally, when you invoke Media Influence, you kill a specific story, get an advance story or place a small publication. Using Media Ability in conjunction with your Influence, you can block an effort to kill a story (if you spend as many Media Ability Traits as the opposing individual), or you can guarantee that it shows up on everyone’s doorstep (if you have at least one Media Ability left to use after canceling attempts to kill the story, you should ask the Storyteller to make sure that your story appears in a hand-out with all of the character sheets at the beginning of the appropriate game session). Medicine: You know how the human body functions. You can speed the recovery and healing of an injured mortal, or you can use your knowledge to inflict injury. You can use the Medicine Ability to speed a mortal’s healing by one category: a Wounded mortal would heal as if Bruised, for instance. Medicine may be used for other sorts of research and lab work with a Mental Challenge. As Medicine represents such a vast field, your Storyteller may require you to specify what you know (Pharmaceuticals, Internal Medicine, General Practice). Meditation: This represents your Ability to center your emotions and your energies, relaxing and controlling mind and body. Individuals with Meditation can focus their energies of the Sacred Mother and regain any lost Gnosis Traits by meditating for 10 minutes out of game; after 10 minutes, the character may convert one Meditation Trait to a Gnosis Trait. You needn’t bend into a pretzel-like position to successfully meditate; Meditation techniques can be highly personal so long as they allow you to concentrate. Meditation can also be used to regain Willpower Traits, but this process is more difficult. You can regain one Willpower Trait by meditating for 30 minutes out of game; after 30 minutes, the character may convert one Meditation Trait to a Willpower Trait. Melee: If you’ve got something in your hands, you’re a deadly fighter. Be it a sword, a stick or a set of nunchaku, you can use it to damaging effect. Expend Melee for retests in hand-to-hand combat when you are using a close combat weapon like a knife or a chair. Certain weapons function best when wielded by a character with Melee. Metaphysics: You have a talent for utilizing esoteric information in a practical fashion. By passing a Static Mental Test, you can identify rituals you uncover or track down the inside scoop on a local cult. The difficulty of this test is determined by how obscure the subject of your inquiry is, as well as your personal scope of understanding and background in this area. Unlike the various Lore Abilities, this skill covers more general or theoretical information applicable to a wide range of pursuits and styles. This Ability may be used to call for a retest in almost any magical working. Negotiation: The trick lies in making both sides feel like they got a good deal. Soothe egos, make compromises and come out on top - that’s the trick of Negotiation. You can tell when to put on pressure, when to ease off, when to play things up and when to look like you’re on the losing end. Most importantly, this helps you in cross-dealings when you need tit-for-tat. You can use Negotiation in conjunction with your various Backgrounds that normally garner aid (but not information). Your Negotiation Ability allows you a retest on the use of such a Background. For instance, if your Mentor refuses to help you, you can use Negotiation for a retest to see if you can convince her otherwise. Networking: It’s all in who you know. You can make contacts on the fly, figure out the power structures and milk your information sources for all the right dirt. With a few hours and a bunch of phone calls, you can usually dig up a little information about - well, just about anything. Use Networking Ability in lieu of an established information network. If you don’t have Contacts or a similar Background, you can rely on Networking instead. Networking has several disadvantages by comparison, though. It takes you a full scene/ hour to perform a use of Networking. You only gain information to answer one question or investigate one rumor. You must still make a Social Challenge with a difficulty determined by a Storyteller. Use of Networking does not generate a permanent social network; it just represents your ability to pull together bits and pieces of information from a few contacts and some hastily researched paperwork. Some information may be outside the scope of Networking. On the flip side, Networking doesn’t count against your uses of Contacts, so you can potentially gain even more information if you spend enough time. Occult: The hidden world teems with mysterious secrets. By unlocking universal keys and studying the basics of spirituality, you can learn the shadowy paths of the cosmos. Your Occult Ability serves as a general knowledge of the supernatural, alerting you to the existence of many varied sorts of inhuman creatures and paranormal events. Occult grants some basic (and sometimes erroneous) knowledge of the various denizens of the supernatural world; for more detailed information, study Lore in your particular subject of interest. Panhandling: You beg with skill and ease... people just end up giving you money. You may engage in a Social Challenge at any time to encourage passers-by to share the wealth. Your Demeanor may vary from a crying child to an aggressive old drunk. Performance: 'You are a true virtuoso. Whatever your chosen medium, you have a gift for artistic endeavors. Whether playing an instrument, singing, dancing or acting, your skills allow you to entertain and even earn money. Your Performance Ability can be used to earn a modest income, just like other artistic trade skills. ''You must choose a specific art form when you take Performance, such as playing an instrument, singing, acting or dramatic readings. Note that Performance is generally anything done before an audience, while Expression most often focuses on literary works, and Crafts concentrates on the creation of physical objects (such as paintings or sculptures). '''Pilot: Rotorhead, stick-jock, jet boy - you’ve heard them all, and if it has wings (fixed or rotary) you’ve flown it. You’re familiar with how to handle planes, helicopters and hovercraft. Anything that floats on air is your baby. Use Pilot in conjunction with dangerous maneuvers in a plane, jet, helicopter or hovercraft. You can’t operate such a vehicle without the Pilot Ability. Politics: Through observation, intrigue and a bit of spin doctoring, you’ve learned how to handle appearances, what a speech really means, and where the deal-making is going on. In short, it’s Politics as usual. The Politics Ability is useful primarily in dealings with mortal society or Influence. You may be able to manipulate the outcome of local political actions, with the proper Influence and some well placed Social Challenges; Politics Ability ensures that matters proceed in the direction that you desire. Politics is also used to discern hidden motives and broker deals. A knowledge of Politics includes, by extension, an understanding of the bureaucratic levels of power. You know how to cut through red tape, or how to obstruct others with it. By determining who’s important in a given strata, you can usually avoid wasting time and simply go straight to the person with the power to do what you want. For a vampire with Politics, you can usually set an appropriate level of debt for a prestation boon. The hierarchies of power are often obvious to you, granting you insight into whether the prince is really in charge, or is simply a puppet of the primogen, for example. Politics also makes you aware of who’s in favor and who’s out, and you can determine how much Status a particular vampire possesses once introduced. (If you know your quarry’s name, expend a Politics Ability to determine the subject’s Status Traits.) Psychology: The workings of the human mind are laid bare to you. Behavior patterns and defenses are all clear. Well, perhaps not clear - humans are unpredictable and Psychology isn’t an exact science. You do, though, have a better idea than average of what motivates people and why they do things. You can use Psychology in conjunction with a Social Challenge to discern someone’s current Demeanor. Given a full hour of time to study a subject, you can also use a Social Challenge to try to learn the subject’s Nature, or to change the Demeanor for the next scene to a Demeanor of your choosing. Repair: You possess a working understanding of what makes things tick. With times, tools and parts, you can fix or slightly alter most of the trappings of modern society. This knowledge also allows you to excel at sabotage. The Repair Ability is widespread among inventors, mechanics and handymen. Using this Ability usually calls for a Mental Challenge, the difficulty of which depends on such factors as the item’s complexity, tools and parts available, extent of damage and time spent on the repairs. Ride: Ride is the ability to travel astride a horse or other riding animal, keeping it under control in varying circumstances. Experienced riders can fight from horseback, tend horses’ common ailments and evaluate the quality of their mounts and related gear. Note that this ability does not override the horse's natural aversion to supernatural creatures with a beast or rage. Science: The modern Information Age sees the explosion of all manner of studies. Categorizing and breaking down the world into many different forms, the methods of logic and reason give sentient beings the means to understand the universe, or at least small pieces of it. Education in Science covers techniques of inquiry, modern studies and a broad range of underpinning work in a diverse range of fields. Science Ability requires an area of particular study: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Metallurgy, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Geology and Botany are all possibilities, though such a list is far from comprehensive. Combining a Science with different fields may give a wide variety results. For example, Science: Metallurgy with Academics may give results regarding historical research and theory, while the same Science with Occult may center on ancient alchemy or parapsychology. Actually constructing objects or devices theorized with Science may require use of the Crafts Ability. Using a particular branch of Science usually requires a Mental Challenge of some sort to determine the success of research or the viability of theoretical work. Scrounge: You’re exceptionally good at finding stuff. Whether it’s a crucial part for a 1890s’ gramophone, invitations to the most exclusive gallery opening in town, or just haven space in the downtown, you’re a wiz at knowing where to go, who to talk to and how to get what you need. Granted, the things you get are rarely brand-new or exactly right and do take time and favors to acquire. Still such an ability is useful when your finances are less than sparkling or theft is out of the question. Scrounge is typically used in conjunction with Mental Traits (although the Storyteller may occasionally require a Social Challenge for haggling), and can be useful when looking for particular items or searching a place that is in shambles. Seafaring: You can use your knowledge of the sea’s surface as well as its depths to navigate the waters with confidence and skill. You can pilot various types of sea vessels, as well as perform simple repairs on them. One Trait allows you to pilot small vessels such as sailboats and simple motorboats. Two Traits gives you familiarity with yachts and other medium-sized vessels. Three or more Traits enable you to pilot almost any type of vessel, even over rough water. Seafaring tests usually involve a Physical test involving your reflexes or a Mental test involving either intuition or perception. Security: Whichever side of the law you’ve worked on has granted you experience in Security techniques. You know about police operations and guard work, how they make their schedules and how they undertake their business - and how to disrupt such operations. Locks, traps, security systems and alarms are all within your purview. With a little time, you can put together Security measures for a location; you can also defeat such measures. Use the Security Ability with Mental Traits to set up a secure area or network, or to formulate a plan for breaching such a network. Security Ability is also used to disarm traps, alarms and other devices, and to defeat locks. At the discretion of a Narrator, you may be required to use a Physical Trait related to dexterity when attempting to bypass a physical lock or alarm. Sleight of Hand: The art of prestidigitation has made magicians famous for centuries. While most sorcerers have other means to achieve these feats, common misdirection can never be counter-spelled. Most applications of this art call for a Static Physical Test, though Narrators may allow simple amusements to succeed automatically. Those who study Conjuration often make use of this path. Snake Charming: You can mesmerize snakes and enjoy handling them. This Ability will allow you to retake a Social Challenge when you are sure you are engaged with a Setite or Serpent of the Light. It will also allow you to charm snakes for show or for certain Sabbat rituals. Stealth: By blending into cover, blurring your lines and moving carefully and quietly, you can evade notice or sneak past people. You know how best to take advantage of surrounding cover and how to use light and shadow. Opportunities for unnoticed movement are not lost on you, as you understand the uses of timing and diversion. With an appropriate Physical Challenge, you can sometimes sneak past the notice of guards and searchers (who contest your Ability with their Mental Traits and Investigation Ability). Streetwise: Word on the street is known to you. Even if you don’t have any particular friends or contacts in the area, you know about the different communities and gangs that hang out in town. You recognize tagging and other territorial markers, and you know some of the signs, colors and clothes that denote street people, homeless, gangbangers, hoodlums, criminals and social workers. Using the Streetwise Ability, with your Mental Traits, lets you recognize the influence of various gangs or street communities. You also know about criminal organizations and activities, and you could perform a little larceny yourself. An appropriate Social Challenge can help smooth dealings with a hostile gang (though you may need Etiquette to make a really good impression). Subterfuge: There are many ways to talk about subjects, and equally many ways to uncover the truth of the matter. Even in idle conversation, people use little white lies, slip hints about their true motives, try to guide the course of discussion and give away their secrets indirectly. The art of Subterfuge is the art of reading these tricks and using them effortlessly. When someone confronts you with one of your lies, you can use the Subterfuge Ability in your own defense (if someone uses the Empathy Ability, for instance). By guiding a conversation, you can also unearth someone’s Negative Traits; if you manage to steer conversation to a particular topic in play, you can expend a Subterfuge Ability and make a Social Challenge to determine one of the subject’s Negative Traits related to the topic. Survival: Survival Ability represents knowledge of terrain, how to find shelter, where to find water, techniques in hunting, edible and poisonous plants and fungi and so on. Though a vampire needs only blood to live, use of Survival makes the hunting of animals much easier, and it provides some assurances of a safer existence for those who travel outside the cities. Hunting and avoiding danger in the wilderness usually relies on a Physical Challenge. With Survival, you can substitute your Mental Traits if you so desire. Technology: You know all about high-tech gadgetry, devices, machines and toys. Whether building, repairing or just figuring the infernal contraptions out, you have a good sense of how such mechanisms work, be they televisions, microwave ovens or sprinkler systems. With the Technology Ability, you can puzzle out most technical devices. You understand all manner of electrical and mechanical engineering, material work and even a little bit of hotwiring. You are equally able to program a DVD player or install an alarm. You can also use Technology to circumvent such devices, which can be very handy in defeating Technocratic security. Use Mental Traits for such challenges. Thanatology: Most mortals fear death. Ancient Egyptians honored it by studying it. You are considered a student of death and dying if you possess Traits in this Ability. You understand not just the mortification and preservation of a corpse, but also the spiritual dimensions of death - funerary rites, respectful treatment of a corpse, embalming, etc. This knowledge also gives you some understanding of ghosts and zombies, at least as related to their physical deaths and present states. Theology: Theology is the lore of the queen of the sciences, the study of God’s will in all things. It combines historical scholarship with logic and a measure of artistic expression. Theology by itself does not make a character articulate, but it can provide the information necessary for effective persuasion, and it’s crucial in evaluating many social matters. Nothing mortal or physical lies outside the scope of God’s commandments, heretics and the orthodox agree, and there is a theological dimension to political, economic and other disagreements. Throwing: You’ve spent a lot of time as either a hard-core survivalist with a throwing ax, a wannabe ninja with shurikens, or you just spent far too much free time playing baseball. You have the techniques of throwing down pat, and you can hit your targets with ease almost every time. While most people don’t even know how to hold a throwing knife, you’re a virtuoso with any sort of thrown weapon, from a spear to a rock. You can use Mental Traits instead of Physical Traits when throwing a weapon and you may use this Ability to retest with thrown objects. Vamp: You can use your seductive means to get any information from anyone. Your advances could make a sailor blush, and you know how to tailor them to the individual. Remember, however, that you will still need to spend blood in order to make yourself appear human to ordinary sight and touch. This Ability can be used in appropriate Presence retests, as well as in unique interrogation circumstances. Bear in mind that vampires on Paths of Enlightenment may not spend blood to make themselves appear more human, and many vampires find the idea of such base acts to be no better than animals coupling (benefits aside). Restricted Abilities Construct Politics: Unlike the politics of the Masses, the Technocratic Union relies on advanced sociology. Management is more efficient, bureaucracy is less wasteful, and the politics are less dangerous. Usually. The downside of this is that the structures often don’t make immediate sense to the uneducated. You’ve survived long enough to know your way around the Constructs, though, and you know who’s who. Use Construct Politics to unearth the Reputation of Technocrats who’re attached to a Horizon Construct. Since the Horizon Constructs have limited contact with Earth and often have their own (experimental) social structures, this Ability is invaluable for determining who’s really in charge and how to go about getting things done. Essentially, this is a special form of Politics that works for Technocratic advanced bureaucracy in the same way that Hypertech compares to Technology or Biotech to Medicine. (Technocracy Only) Cosmology: The Tellurian/Umbra/Shadowlands is vast and full of mysteries, but some of those mysteries are clear to you. Whether through hearsay or personal experience, you know of many fantastic places and creatures throughout the cosmos. When you encounter a strange Realm, a mystical node, caern or an unknown spirit, you use your Cosmology Ability to puzzle out its nature. Usually doing so calls for a Mental Challenge with a difficulty determined by the Storyteller. By expending a Cosmology Trait, you can determine the strength of a node or caern or how powerful a spirit is. Additional information relies on challenges and your ability to roleplay through the process of dealing with alien places and changeable entities. This ability should specify which realm it applies to (Umbral, Shadowlands, Astral Plane, etcetera). This ability takes the place of Lore with regards to alternate planes. (Only characters that can traverse other realms) Disguise: While many monsters guard against illusions and other mystical disguises, no few are still fooled by the old-fashioned art of clever makeup and a change of clothes, if only because they so seldom expect to be duped that way. Clever hunters can exploit this mentality to their advantage, using a mundane disguise to perform reconnaissance, escape unwanted attention, and become prey to bait a trap or even infiltrate the ranks of the enemy. Creating a Disguise requires a Mental Challenge, where the difficulty depends on how much of a change the hunter is trying to make. Appearing as a generic “someone else” is a difficulty of three Traits, appearing as a general type of individual (soldier, repair man, gang member, etc.) is a difficulty of five, and taking on the appearance of a specific person is a difficulty of seven. Appearing as someone of the opposite gender adds two to the difficulty of a test, and the Narrator should feel free to raise or lower the difficulty to accommodate other factors as well. Ideally, the player should also adopt the proper makeup, costuming and props to indicate the use of this Ability, but those features are not strictly necessary - all a player is required to do is wear a description tag marked “Disguise” that describes their altered appearance to other players, which must be displayed prominently for other players to notice. Other characters may make a Mental Challenge against the hunter to try to pierce the Disguise, provided they have a valid in-game reason to be suspicious about the hunter’s identity. Bear in mind that even though a hunter’s physical Disguise may be flawless, she may still give herself away through inappropriate speech or behavior, especially when attempting to impersonate specific people or members of tightly knit groups. Thus, most hunters skilled in the craft of Disguise are equally skilled in Abilities such as Subterfuge and/or Acting to help maintain their cover, not to mention taking time to do a bit of research beforehand. Likewise, even a completely convincing performance might still be disbelieved for reasons outside of the character’s control no matter how well she looks or acts the part, if the bloodsucker’s bodyguards know for a fact that his lady love left last night for a two-month vacation, the hunter’s disguise isn’t going to work! (Special Human Only) Divination: Signs, omens and portents to the future are all gateways that you can visualize. Once per game session, and with access to the proper equipment (entrails of a beast, telescope to read the stars, Tarot cards, etc.), your character can attempt to give a general reading or ask a specific question. (“What does the future hold in store for me?”) All results are at Storyteller discretion. Answers to these questions can be as vague or as specific as necessary, and might be a good place for the Storyteller to interject fun plot twists. (“Yes, your future holds at least one more perilous encounter. One such attack will occur when your back is turned.”) (Special Human Only) Do (Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood): THIS ABILITY WILL BE DETAILED BY THE STORYTELLERS SOON. (Akashic Brotherhood Only) Endurance: Whether due to conscious training or simply an adaptation to the rigors of the hunt, imbued with this Ability have developed an impressive resistance to the effects of going without food, water or sleep for long periods of time. With one level of Endurance, a hunter can go 24 hours straight without such amenities before needing to test for deprivation penalties; each additional level of Endurance beyond the first adds another 12 hours to this time. Until this time is up he functions normally and suffers no penalties related to a lack of sleep or sustenance. In addition, each level of this Ability adds 15 seconds to how long a hunter can hold his breath, when applicable. This Ability has no effect on poisons, disease or wound penalties stemming from actual injuries of any kind, only “damage” done by lack of sleep or nutrition. Once a hunter’s Endurance level has been passed, he begins suffering penalties normally and loses his Endurance rating until he has time to replenish his reserves; one level of Endurance is regained for each full day of proper rest and nutrition he receives. (Special Human Only) Energy Weapons: 'Void Engineer space Marines and Iteration X grunts can't always rely on simple projectile weapons. Guns don't fire in space or underwater, and don't always have the power to take out threatening Deviants. Fortunately for humanity, the Union has and uses various forms of Energy Weapons: Lasers, plasma casters, shockers, particle beams and what-have-you. These weapons differ markedly from Firearms, and someone used to normal Firearms will find the advanced energy technology and the lack of recoil rather difficult to adjust to. Furthermore, Energy Weapons Ability covers the maintenance and minor repair of such weapons. You can use Mental Challenges to attack with energy Weapons, just like using Firearms with guns. Note that while the Technocracy most commonly uses Energy Weapons, some Technomancers (especially Sons of Ether) occasionally build various "ray guns" as well, and could use this Ability. ''(Technomancers Only) '''Fire Dancing: You can enter a trancelike state that relieves you from Rotschreck and allows you to leap bonfires and burning coals during Fire Dance rituals. You do not get nervous around fire if you take the time to sit apart and meditate for five minutes before encountering the flames closely. However, unless a fire is specifically built as a ritual bonfire, you still suffer the same Rotschreck as anyone else.'' (Sabbat or Former Sabbat Only)'' Flight: It takes more than a pair of wings to really know how to maneuver in the air. This Ability represents a knack for serious aerial agility and allows a flyer to do all manner of tricks that cannot normally be attempted by less-talented flyers: landing on precarious surfaces, dive-bombing a target, performing barrel rolls or picking up something without landing are just a few of the more common feats that can be attempted with this Ability. Most uses of this Ability require a Physical Challenge of some kind, with a difficulty based on conditions surrounding the feat - harsh weather, objects being carried, etc. The flyer may also use Flight for all retests involving aerial combat or dodging incoming attacks while flying. This Ability does not confer any talent for piloting planes, helicopters or any other type of aircraft. (Only Flying Creature Types) Helmsman: It's one thing to drive a car or pilot an airplane. It's another thing entirely to learn the three-dimensional tactics and incredibly complex operations necessary to pilot a Void Engineer spacecraft. This highly specialized Ability covers just such an occasion. While you probably won't spend a lot of time in spacecraft, getting from place to place can be difficult if nobody knows how to start the engines. You must have Helmsman Ability to operate a Void Engineer spacecraft; guesswork isn't enough. The Storyteller may impose various challenges for piloting the craft through asteroids, into combat, landing and through other such hazards. Sons of Ether can also use the Helmsman Ability with their etherships. (Techmancers Only) High Ritual: You're a master of pomp and circumstance. You know exactly where the candles go, how the invocation reads and which color of drapes to use for the best effect. You can take into account Resonance, the participants' personalities, your own knowledge and the limitations of your budget and still come up with a ritual that will not only succeed in amplifying your magic, but will look damn cool, too. Play out your performance of High Ritual for a short time (assuming you're in a private location). You can expend a High Ritual Ability thereafter as a downtime action to extend your rite into the realm of Superhuman Ritual (see Laws of Ascension p. 140). Each level allows you to tack on one more grade of casting time, and thus one more grade of success. Of course, once you're done, you likely collapse from exhaustion and sleep for about 16 hours. Alternatively, you can use your High Ritual to grant a single retest to one other participant who fails a challenge when attempting to aid you in a cooperative rite. (Tradition Mages Only) Hypertech: There's technology, and then there are toys. The Technocratic Union has at its fingertips access to some of the most amazing devices never seen by man. Of course, Enlightened Scientists can learn to use these incredible Devices by rote, but you actually understand some of the super-advanced abstractions of science that make them work. In theory, anyway. You must have Hypertech Ability to design new Technocratic Apparatuses; otherwise, you’re limited to using the equipment that your Convention supplies. With Hypertech you can puzzle out and possibly even repair damaged Technocratic equipment, subject to making a Mental Challenge (difficulty varies at the Storyteller’s discretion, but usually eight or more Traits). (Technomancers Only) Intuition: 'A hunter with this Ability is intimately familiar with this natural “sixth sense” of humanity and trusts it as much, if not more, than what her normal senses or formal learning might be telling her otherwise. In game terms, this Ability has two uses: first, the imbued may spend a level of this Ability instead of a Willpower Trait if she wishes to perform a test with an Ability she doesn’t have, as she goes by pure instinct to attempt what would normally be outside her grasp. Second, she may spend a level of Intuition and make a Mental Challenge against six Traits when she’s confronted by a dead end, a choice to make or stumped by an enigma. Success means that she may ask the Narrator for a small hint to help her guess what she should do. (See the Vision edge Foresee for an idea of when and how such guesses can come into play.) This Ability is not equal to the power of even that basic edge, however, and Narrators should remember to treat it accordingly. It doesn’t simply beam ideas or information into a hunter’s mind fully formed, nor is it a danger sense or true navigation tool. It’s a subtle nudge, a vague impression, a fleeting feeling leading in the right direction; in other words, enough for a Narrator to possibly help out a player who’s been stumped while trying to figure out a problem, but not a free pass out of danger or a shortcut for players to avoid real research with other Abilities. ''(Special Human Only) '''Iskakku (Tribebook: Children of Gaia): THIS ABILITY WILL BE DETAILED BY THE STORYTELLERS SOON. (Children of Gaia Only) Jetpack: The Masses already have jetpack technology, but it’s shaky, expensive, unreliable and just not very good. Technocratic jetpacks, of course, are much, much better. You’re trained in the use of such jetpacks. Thanks to widespread televising of early jetpack experiments, most such jetpacks are now considered entirely coincidental and accepted by the Masses. Use Jetpack as your piloting skill if you’re flying with a jetpack and in a dangerous situation, such as trying to pull up from the last minute to avoid a building, or flying between tight canyons at high speed. Proper use of a Jetpack can give you great mobility advantages. Without this Ability, a character is limited to normal walking movement with a jetpack. (Technomancers Only) Malkavian Time: This Malkavian-specific Trait represents a Lunatic's particular connection to her clan's shared subconsciousness; needless to say, it's quite supernatural by nature. It allows the Malkavian to "plug into" the floodwaters of the Madness Network and filter out messages, impulses, shared visions and knowledge of upcoming clan gatherings. The Storyteller is usually the one making any Malkavian Time challenges, at least with regards to clan gatherings. It's theoretically possible to actually, consciously send messages along the Network, but that doesn't mean that the Network is any sort of replacement (or even poor substitute) for a cell phone. For the most part, "sent" messages that manage to make it farther than a few feet are unconscious screams that channel a Malkavian's extreme emotion or pain. For this reason, Malkavians with more than three dots in Malkavian Time can often hear a clanmate's death-scream, so long as it's in the same city. Despite the difficulty, it is possible to send deliberate, personalized message from one person to the next along the Network, even without Dementation. It's tough as hell, but a Malkavian can always try. Note that a Malkavian needn't have any dots at all in Malkavian Time to receive those hideous little broadcasts along the clan's frayed neural network. In fact, it often drives newly Embraced clan members... well, madder than usual when the message start filtering into their brains without any hint as to their origins. (Malkavian Only) Masquerade: This Ability can be a real icebreaker at parties, though not always a good one unless you’re in with a gaggle of good-humored Malkavians. This Ability allows you to pass for a vampire - an especially useful skill for a Hunter. There’s nothing like being able to walk into a city and be presented to the prince, particularly when you intend to jam a sharpened croquet post through his wishbone. This Ability allows a single re-test on Aura Perceptions performed against ghouls who possess it. It does not, however, fool the Garou Gift: Sense Wyrm. (Special Human Only) Microgravity Operations: The Void Engineers naturally spend a lot of time in space, and sometimes they bring other Conventioneers with them for specialty missions. You've been trained to handle the rigors of low gravity, and can handle spacewalking, ship operations and lunar travel with a minimum of fuss. While the greenhorns are floating away to the length of their umbilical tethers, you’re floating upside-down and backward, getting a lovely view of the stars. Normally, when in microgravity (that is, on the moon, in space, on a ship with no gravity and so on), characters can’t use Abilities at all. You can use Abilities normally as long as you have at least one level of Microgravity Operations. You never lose your bearings and become confused by direction, nor do you suffer nausea due to microgravity (characters exposed to microgravity for the first time should make a Static Physical Challenge, six Trait difficulty, or be subjected to vertigo and incapacitating nausea for a full conflict/ 10 minutes). You use Microgravity Operations as your Ability to direct yourself in potentially hazardous free-fall situations, such as to slip out from between two slow moving but heavy objects that might crush you or to avoid coming loose from the ship’s hull and floating off into Jupiter. Sons of Ether who spend a lot of time on etherships may also develop Microgravity Operations Ability. (Technomancers) Poisons: Anyone can toss a few chemicals into food or drink in an effort to cause harm, but a hunter with this Ability has delved deeper into learning the delicate and dangerous art of concocting more professional (not to mention less traceable) poisons, as well as how to deliver them in ways a target will not expect or detect. Given enough time and resources, he might even be able to mix poisons designed to cause a specific reaction in their target, such as disabling a particular organ or sense, or incapacitating a foe rather than killing him. Naturally, such knowledge confers an equal aptitude for recognizing toxins and mixing antidotes as well. Generally speaking, brewing either a poison or an antidote requires a Mental Challenge of some kind, not to mention the necessary time and materials to mix. A person who suspects she is being targeted by poison must make a Mental Challenge to notice anything out of the ordinary, although some creatures with supernatural senses may be able to detect it long before it has a chance of harming them (Storyteller’s discretion). This Ability is also required if a hunter wishes to safely poison a melee weapon or other instrument without the threat of accidentally dosing herself in the process. (Special Human Only) Primal-Urge: As primal creatures, Garou have a long history of fighting bravely and ferociously as proud warriors in service to Gaia. Primal-Urge represents the close tie you have to this ancestry, not only as a wolf but also as a half-wolf. As such, you may spend a Primal-Urge Trait to instantly shift between forms instead of a Rage Trait or assist you in passing through the Gauntlet. Homid characters may not begin play with this Ability, except with the Storyteller’s permission. (Shifters Only) RD Data: 'The Technocratic Union keeps files on all sorts of Reality Deviants - extensive files. You’ve read some. Maybe you’ve even encountered some of those Deviants. Be that as it may, you know about some of the dangers that humanity doesn’t. Sometimes it makes you wish that you were blissfully ignorant. RD Data is the Technocratic term for specific Lore regarding supernatural creatures. It’s tightly controlled; the Union regards it as a “need-to-know” information resource. RD Data can cover the same areas as Lore. ''(Technocracy Only) Rituals (Shifter Version):' Rites are immensely important to shifters. With this Ability, you know something about the traditions, ceremonies and other sacred mysteries. With enough time and study, you may even know something about the rites of tribes other than your own, or even a fragment or two about the ceremonies of the Sanga. This knowledge is necessary to learn rituals - your rating must be equal to or greater than the level of the rite you wish to learn (1-2 for Basic, 3-4 for Intermediate, 5 for Advanced). You can expend a level of Rituals for a retest when performing a ritual or rite. ''(Shifters Only) Rituals (Sabbat Version): You know the rituals and ritae of the Sabbat and can perform them whenever the occasion requires. This Ability is vital to being a pack priest: Unless the character performing the ritae has this knowledge, the ritae will fail. This Ability is not simply the knowledge of such rituals, but is a spiritual, almost supernatural ability to perform them. This Ability is typically taught to pack priests and other spiritual leaders, and a Sabbat who is not a priest but possesses such knowledge may come under scrutiny. (Sabbat Only) Sniping: Ghouls with this Ability are so in tune with vampires that they can pick one out in a crowd. They can instinctively spot the predator. Working almost like a psychic power, this is really more of a subconscious assessment of the hallmarks of vampires. Sniping basically grants a ghoul a very specific sort of Aura Perception. By using Sniping, a ghoul can enter a Social Challenge with a single target. If the ghoul wins, he may ask if his target is a vampire or not. The target cannot lie in response to this question, and even Musk of 1000 Faces cannot hide a vampire from a talented ghoul who knows Sniping. (Ghouls Only) Steward: Every vampire should be as lucky or intelligent as to have a ghoul with this Ability. Steward demonstrates a ghoul’s grasp of his Regnant’s affairs, day or nighttime. A ghoul with this Ability can run every aspect of his Regnant’s haven. This Ability is useful for defending the haven against invaders, but it can also be brought to bear should a ghoul decide to defect from his Regnant’s service. Not only is a good Steward fully stocked with blackmail material on his Regnant, but he just might know her haven better than she does. (Ghouls Only) Subdimensions: You've studied the myriad layers of quantum uncertainty and universal shear. Using string resonances and other obscure theories, you've come to a very basic understanding of some of the mysterious and nigh-unfathomable strangeness that exists beyond the Dimensional Barrier. In game terms, this Ability works like Cosmology for Technocrats. Instead of granting knowledge of spirits and secret Umbral realms, it covers in detail areas that Technocrats frequent: Horizon Constructs, machine realms, parallel worlds and other "scientific" dimensions. (Technomancers) Tactics: Tactics allows hunters to use good planning and teamwork to help level the playing field a bit against the monsters they’re after. To use this Ability, the hunters must actually draw up and discuss a detailed plan of action, assigning responsibilities to different team members and ensuring that everyone involved knows at least their role and their objective. Team members who aren’t present during the planning, who don’t pay attention to the discussion, w ho disagree strongly or who otherwise choose not to participate in the plan cannot receive the benefit of this , ability (be honest). It should be noted that Tactics is not limited to just combat situations - rescue missions, infiltration efforts, shadowing a target and other such activities can all receive the benefits of Tactics, with the Storyteller’s approval. At the same time, a Narrator should ensure that it the hunters truly have a plan, not just an intuitive command for everybody “to do what works for them” or a variation on the ever-popular “Get ‘em!” Once a plan has been finalized, the hunter with the highest Tactics rating in the group makes a Mental Challenge against a difficulty of the number of people involved in the plan plus three. (Each additional hunter in the plan who has Tactics adds one Trait to the testing character’s total for the purposes of resolving ties.) Success means that the group receives a “pool” of retests equal to twice the testing character’s Tactics rating, plus an additional retest for each member who spends either a Tactics level or Willpower Trait at the end of the planning session. Each character can only add one retest to the pool in this fashion. These retests are then distributed to the team members by the testing character, whether that means distributing them evenly among the group to keep the whole team an edge, or perhaps concentrating them on a few members with harder tasks (or to make up for some members with less ability). Once assigned, retests gained in this fashion can be used on any challenge made during the execution on the plan, provided the hunter is acting strictly according to the orders she was given. Only one Tactics retest may be used on any particular challenge, and it cannot be used in combination with other Ability retests on the same challenge. Hunting teams may make multiple plans with this Ability at once, but a character can only receive the benefits of one Tactics session each scene, regardless of how many plans she might execute during that time. Thus, a team cannot make redundant or overlapping plans in order to gain a large number of retests. Additionally, a hunter who deliberately goes against her orders, no matter what the reason, immediately loses all benefits of this Ability for the rest of the scene. (Special Human Only) Tolerance: This Ability allows a Hermit to temporarily withstand the effects of the static, allowing them to interact with hunters or monsters normally for a short period of time. Each level of Tolerance allows the Hermit to ignore the penalties of static for being near one hunter or supernatural creature for one hour, cumulatively. Thus, a Hermit with three levels of this Ability can go three hours in the presence of up to three beings that would normally trigger the static without suffering a penalty. Should time run out, or the number of people ever exceed the amount they can handle, the full penalties of the static immediately resume until the Hermit brings the situation back within his limits. This Ability’s benefits reset every 24-hour period, although the Hermit can use his time all at once or in smaller increments as he desires. Bystanders count as half a person (round down, minimum one) for the purposes of this Ability, as do Visionaries for reasons no one has yet been able to determine. It is possible to specialize in this Ability; each time a specialization is selected, choose one creed - members of that creed now count as half a person for the purposes of this Ability, as described above. It should be noted that while the game penalties of the static are temporarily removed with Tolerance, the constant barrage of the static doesn’t go away, it just quiets a little - dull roar as opposed to a pounding storm. While not nearly as bad as their normal burden, the struggle this Ability represents should still be roleplayed accordingly, or the Hermit begins to seem more like a lucid person occasionally plagued by moments of madness, rather than the other way around as they are meant to be. (Special Human: Hermit Only) Disallowed Abilities Animal Affinity (Liber des Goules): Replaced by Animal Ken in 3rd Edition. Black Hand Knowledge (Laws of the Night (2nd Edition)): Replaced by Lore in 3rd Edition. Blood Lore (Liber des Goules): Replaced by Lore in 3rd Edition. Body Control (Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood): Not used by VampCat. Commerce (Faith and Fire): This ability isn't really applicable to modern day. Conspiracy Theory (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Covert Culture (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Demolitions (Laws of the Reckoning): Not used by VampCat. Fire Walking (Laws of the Night (2nd Edition)): Replaced by Fire Dancing in 3rd Edition. Gremayre (Shining Host): Not used by VampCat. Haven Scouting (Liber des Goules): Not used by VampCat. Instruction (Shining Host): Not used by VampCat. Kenning (Shining Host): Not used by VampCat. Larceny (Laws of the Wyld West): Replaced by Security and other abilities in modern times. Legerdemain (Faith and Fire): Replaced by Sleight of Hand in modern times. Martial Arts (Laws of the East): Not used by VampCat. You may speciailize your Brawl or Melee ability in a Martial Arts. Mediation (Tribebook: Children of Gaia): Not used by VampCat. Medical Knowledge (Liber des Goules): Replaced by Medicine in 3rd Edition. Newspeak (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Power-Brokering (Laws of the Ascension Companion): 'Not used by VampCat. 'Propaganda (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Soulforging (Oblivion): Not used by VampCat. Strategy (''Tradition Book: Akashic Brotherhood):'' Not used by VampCat. Terrorism (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Torture (Several MET Books): Not used by VampCat except in special situations. Umbrood Protocols (Tradition Book: Order of Hermes): Not used by VampCat. Vice (Laws of Ascension Companion): Not used by VampCat. Wrestling (Tribe Book: Fianna): Replaced by Athletics. Category:House Rules